Blessing of the Animals 2020: In Spirit

2015:  Father Jay and friend

In 2020, especially, our animal friends have provided us with companionship and comfort. The virus is still here, as the blaring headlines remind us, and prevents most churches from having in-person blessings in celebration of the Feast of Saint Francis.

Since 2006 our priests have gone to the Foster City Dog Park to say a prayer for pets and their owners in honor of the patron saint of animals and the environment. That 14-year streak will be broken today.

The Lord's Prayer is said every Sunday by millions of believers. The second-most widely recited prayer was composed by Saint Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.